Olympic 200m Letsile Tebogo (© Getty Images)
Letsile Tebogo’s victory in the Olympic 200m final was marked by a grateful Botswana government with the announcement of a national holiday.
But the 21-year-old sprinting phenomenon himself continued with business as usual in Wanda Diamond League competition with further wins over that distance in Lausanne, where he clocked 19.64, and Silesia, where he had to work harder to cross the line in a meeting record of 19.83.
In Rome he dropped down to the 100m and produced another show-stopping effort as he surged past USA’s world indoor champion Christian Coleman and 2022 world champion Fred Kerley to win impudently in 9.87.
It has not been all work for Tebogo, however. The day before his Lausanne race he said with a smile that he had not trained for eight days. But no one would begrudge Tebogo a little down-time after the traumatic and challenging year he has come through.
The circumstances were made clear to the wider world in the wake of his Olympic victory as he solemnly displayed running shoes adorned with the initials of his mother, who died aged 44 in May after a short illness. Tebogo also had his mother’s initials painted on his fingernails.
“It was a great tribute to her, because she has always been caring,” Tebogo told World Athletics. “Through thick and thin, she had always been there, supportive of everything I did.
“I was there when she was sick but I wasn’t really there because I was having to travel back and forth. I just visited her when I could, but she understood that my job didn’t allow me to just leave – but I believe she understands, wherever she is.
Letsile Tebogo wins the 200m at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Getty Images)
“The first few days or few weeks after my mum died were super-difficult for me because I thought it was the end of the world, the end of my career, the end of everything I have tried to accomplish.
“But then the people who were around me, my coach and my team, told me to take each day as it comes, one step at a time. Don’t try to make a big step when you can’t manage to handle it.
“So they pushed me on, day in, day out. There were days when I didn’t have the motivation to train. So they said, ‘just come, show up, come watch us train, maybe you will be motivated as you see us doing the job. But don’t put yourself under pressure.’ So that’s how it was.
“And then eventually everything started to just click in, and I just said, no, as a runner let us get away from this country and just come to Europe and then it will be much easier doing everything away from where the tragedy happened.”
The strategy worked to historic effect in Paris as he earned Botswana’s first Olympic gold medal, clocking a national record of 19.46 to win the 200m.
And the next day Tebogo ran a heroic final leg to help Botswana earn 4x400m silver behind the US quartet.
“I am proud of what I did at the Olympics because it was something that was stuck in my mind, helping the guys get a silver medal.
“We had always dreamed of getting a relay medal at the Olympics. Unfortunately we didn’t get the gold but I had to make sure that we had at least a medal for the 4x400m because we had that potential, and the other teams were scared of Botswana. We still want that gold medal!
“We changed our running order so that I went on the last leg because I could chase Rai Benjamin with my 200m strength. In the last 200 metres, I just found somewhere to get it from. Hopefully by the 2028 Games we will get that gold medal.”
The finish of the men's 4x400m at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (© Getty Images)
Having run a final leg split of 43.08 – even faster than Benjamin’s 43.18 – to bring Botswana home in an African record of 2:54.53, the obvious question in Lausanne was whether he was considering a move up to 400m running at some point in his career.
The answer to which was: yes. But only after he had won Olympic 100m gold at the 2028 Los Angeles Games…
Asked about whether he had considered moving to the United States, where so many of the world’s top sprinters have been developed, Tebogo replied: “It’s a tough question to answer but in the United States there is a lot of competition, so once you take one gem from Africa and you put it there, it is going to be destroyed.
“In the US there is already a new Michael Johnson coming up, Quincy Wilson. There is always somebody coming up for them. But for Africa it is rare to see somebody like me.
“So for me to decide not to go there but to sit down and start from way back in 2016 to just watch how African athletes progressed going to America – I found out that a lot of African athletes make it out of college but they can’t go professional afterwards.”
As part of his reward for bringing such honour to his country, the Botswana government has also given Tebogo two houses. On the question of which he will live in, he replied with a smile: “I will rent those two out because I am not going to move out of my mum’s house.”
Tebogo, who made the decision to choose athletics over football after qualifying for the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi, is strongly rooted in his home country and within his family.
He described how he was raised for many years by his grandmother because his mother was working in another village some distance away.
He now lives with his older sister and they are in the same neighbourhood as their aunt and uncle, whom they regularly visit.
Tebogo also spoke of the grounding effect of being a part-time farmer: “I personally had 10 animals – cows and goats – and then the Botswana government gave me about 30 more now. I am still counting, there are still more coming from them.
“Farming takes me away from the city life, so I can just refresh my mental life. Because in the city you are not a free human, but in the bush you are a free human being.
“It allows me to distract myself away from track and field. Once you think about track and field too much, at the moment you get too much stress.”
Letsile Tebogo's Olympic homecoming in Botswana (© AFP / Getty Images)
When he reflects on the celebrations upon his return to Botswana, it becomes clear why there is such a need for a place of retreat.
“The support was really amazing to see,” he says. “There were 80,000 people at the stadium and all along the road. I believe my life has changed and that I have changed a lot of lives in my home country, something I’ve been looking to do for the African continent. I have shown them that against all odds everything is possible.”
And does he therefore believe that a world 200m record is possible? Speaking after his Lausanne race, he commented: “I see it but I don’t want to put myself under that pressure.
“But I think it will come eventually. I won’t have to push it. I don’t have to push it next year. Perhaps when we are 24 we could attempt something like that. But I don’t think it will take long.
“Looking at what I did today and what I did in the 200m final in Paris, I don’t think it will take that long.”
He added with a smile: “Because I could see it… it’s about 10 metres away from me... we’ll see what we could do about it…”
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
